We all love Harry, don't we?
Spurs' man of the match at Anfield said as much in his post match interview after the creditable 0-0 draw. Scott Parker said "Harry is key to what we have done so far, and what we hope to do in future", when asked what effect it had upon the team that the manager could not be present on Monday night.
Harry's flight out of the City of London airport was cancelled, and he had been stuck in London due to his alleged tax evasion trial that has only been concluded today (8th February, 2012) with unanimous not guilty verdicts on all four counts against Harry Redknapp and his former boss Milan Mandaric.
The trial had dragged on for two and a half weeks, during which Harry had managed to be present at all Spurs other games. I am sure we are all very grateful for the result, and wish Harry and his family all the best in getting their personal lives back to normal.
Spurs certainly need Harry back in peak form, because we have a series of tricky games to come. First up on Saturday tea-time will be fifth placed Newcastle. I am sure the chant of "Harry Redknapp's Blue & White Army" will ring around a packed White Hart Lane. Harry expressed his thanks to the Spurs fans, whose support he found very moving last week against Wigan.
On the subject of Monday night's game, Parker was voted head and shoulders above the rest of the team for his very best never-say-die, dogged defending. Scott was graded 8.6 out of 10, and drew this comment from one voter, which I think says it all:- "They really don't make players like Scotty Parker anymore. He resembles a Thunderbirds puppet but plays his heart out every time, wearing his battle scars like Terry Butcher of old. He must take more for the cause than any other player in the Prem. He should have been at Spurs years ago: a genuine supporter, on Charlton's books when spotted in that famous McDonald's ad as a kid doing umpteen keepy-uppies. But he's here now and it's doubtful we'd be third without him. Signing of the season."
Scott has now been mooted as a possible England Captain for the Euro tournament this summer, now that John Terry has had that duty lifted off his shoulders, due to HIS pending court case. England are likely to come hunting our "Arry now, as a result of the good result at Southwark Crown Court, with Fabio Capello not in their good books following his comments about the Terry issue, and the fact that Capello will be standing down in the summer anyway.
We Spurs fans would have mixed feelings about that. Not everybody agrees with Harry. We are all managers at the end of the day (or think we are), and don't necessarily like the manager's strategy on the pitch. A lack of rotation has been a common thread in recent weeks, particularly over Christmas.
I've said many times though that Harry has given us more high days in his time at Tottenham than his predecessors managed in many previous years. He took us into the Champions League once and is on target to do it again. I prefer to be guarded about the still mathematical possibility of winning the title, but it is not beyond us by any means.
I spoke on BBC Five Live at lunchtime today and was asked about the difficult schedule in the next few weeks, which includes Arsenal away and Man Utd at home. I made the point that we are now a team that fears no-one else in the league. We gave Man City more than a run for their money the other week; beat Arsenal away last season; and we are capable of beating any other team in this league.
Harry Redknapp has given us that status; that confidence; and has put us into the category of Premier League title contenders. Why, he even took Prime Ministers' Question Time off the 24 hour rolling news channels today! That's how much others think of him, and right at this moment, I am firmly with the vast majority of Spurs fans, and all football fans who love Harry!
COME ON YOU SPURS!
· See the full "Spursometer" for this week's Liverpool game here....
· .... and the full results of the LIverpool match survey cane be found here
Results 04-06.02.12
Arsenal 7-1 Blackburn
Norwich 2-0 Bolton
QPR 1-2 Wolves
Stoke 0-1 S'derland
West Brom 1-2 Swansea
Wigan 1-1 Everton
Man City 3-0 Fulham
Newcastle 2-1 A. Villa
Chelsea 3-3 Man Utd
Liverpool 0-0 Spurs
Barclays Premier League
Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Man City 24 18 3 3 63 19 44 57
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2 Man Utd 24 17 4 3 59 24 35 55
3 Spurs 24 15 5 4 44 25 19 50
4 Chelsea 24 12 7 5 44 29 15 43
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5 Newcastle 24 12 6 6 36 31 5 42
6 Arsenal 24 12 4 8 46 34 12 40
7 Liverpool 24 10 9 5 28 21 7 39
8 S'derland 24 9 6 9 33 24 9 33
9 Norwich 24 8 8 8 34 39 -5 32
10 Swansea 24 7 9 8 26 29 -3 30
11 Everton 24 8 6 10 24 27 -3 30
12 Stoke 24 8 6 10 23 36 -13 30
13 A. Villa 24 6 10 8 29 33 -4 28
14 Fulham 24 6 9 9 29 35 -6 27
15 West Brom 24 7 5 12 24 34 -10 26
16 QPR 24 5 6 13 24 40 -16 21
17 Wolves 24 5 6 13 27 44 -17 21
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18 Bolton 24 6 2 16 28 49 -21 20
19 Blackburn 24 4 6 14 34 54 -20 18
20 Wigan 24 3 7 14 21 49 -28 16
